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[Boston, April 1818]. Broadside, 11.25” x 8.5”. CONDITION: Good, damp-stain to lower half, 1.25” tear into lower right side, no losses to the text.

An unrecorded broadside advertising 100-acre lots of land for sale in the Saco River region in the District of Maine, two years before Maine became a state.

Landowner Josiah Bachelder begins by announcing his recent purchase from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“whose warrantee he holds”) of a tract of land containing about thirty thousand acres. Bachelder explains that he is “desirous of having it settled by sober, industrious citizens, on the most liberal and beneficial terms to them.” He touts such advantages as location, natural resources, and agricultural potential:

This tract is lotted out in 100 acre lots. It is situated in nearly the centre of the State of Massachusetts, about 130 miles from Boston, 50 from Portland, the capital of Maine, and about 80 from Portsmouth, the capital of New Hampshire. The Saco River runs near the land; which conducts to one of the best markets for produce, particularly Lumber, in New England. The Land is surrounded by the well settled, prosperous, incorporated towns of Lovell, Waterford, Albany, Bethel, Gilead, and Chatham. 

The soil is of the best quality, heavily timbered with the oak, maple, pine, beach, and birch trees. It is intersected by numerous rivulets of the purest water, many of them capable of turning water mills, machinery, &c. The cleared lands will produce, with little labor, the finest wheat, rye, oats, barley, and other grains; vegetables of all kinds, particularly potatoes of the best quality; and plenty of hay. No part of America is better calculated for a grazing country. There are now twenty-five families settled on the land. 

Pot and Pearl Ashes can be manufactured in great abundance, from the ashes made in clearing up the lands, and at seasons when the business of farming is at a stand. These ashes will be received in payment for the land; and an industrious farmer would be enabled to produce enough of this valuable article to pay for his lands within the periods of credit, which will be given him. 

Conditions of sale, from one to three dollars per acre, according to quality; and payment to be made in one, two and three years. 

Interested parties are advised to inquire of Richard Bachelder, on the premises; or of JOSIAH BACHELDER of Boston. 

No copies recorded in OCLC or Shaw & Shoemaker, nor do we find any reference to it online. 

A rare pre-statehood Maine settlement broadside.

Item #6826

Price: $3,500.00